Lawson v. Thaler, Director TDCJ-CID

Filing 8

OPINION AND ORDER TO TRANSFER CASE to ND/TX, Amarillo Division.(Signed by Judge Janis Graham Jack) Parties notified.(lsmith, ) [Transferred from Texas Southern on 6/30/2011.]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION
SCOTT MATTISON LAWSON,
Petitioner,
VS.
RICK THALER,
Respondent.

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CIVIL ACTION NO. C-11-214

OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER
This is a habeas action filed by a state prisoner incarcerated at the McConnell Unit in
Beeville, Texas (D.E. 1). Petitioner was convicted of felony murder in the 222nd Judicial District
Court of Deaf Smith County and sentenced on November 19, 1998, to serve a term of life in
prison by the 222nd Judicial District Court of Deaf Smith County (Id).
A habeas action may be filed either in the district where petitioner is in custody or in the
district in which petitioner was convicted. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wadsworth v. Johnson, 235
F.3d 959 (5th Cir. 2000). Petitioner’s place of incarceration is in the Corpus Christi Division of
the Southern District of Texas, 28 U.S.C. § 124(b)(6), and he was convicted by a court located in
the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas. 28 U.S.C. § 124(a)(5).
For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court
may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.
28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 1406(a). Because petitioner was convicted in Deaf Smith County, it is
more convenient for the action to be handled in the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of
Texas. The records of his conviction, the prosecutor and defense lawyer, and the witnesses are
all located in the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas.

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Accordingly, it is ordered that the Clerk of the Court TRANSFER this action to the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division. All pending
motions are denied as moot and subject to renewal after the case is transferred.

SIGNED and ORDERED this 29th day of June, 2011.

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Janis Graham Jack
Senior United States District Judge

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